Thoughts on Post-modernity

There has been a lot of discussion regarding post-modernism and how it relates to Christianity. As one might expect the reviews have covered the spectrum from full acceptance to complete rejection. The reason for this is that post-modernism itself is widely defined and so you have responses to multiple definitions and expressions. This may be unfortunate as it may cause some to reject the whole because of a problem with a particular definition. It would be similar to Christianity rejecting modernity if they only heard it defined by an atheist. Likewise, post-modernity is liable to be rejected if one only hears it defined by the relativists.

I believe post-modern thought does offer some valuable insights that are helpful to the church today. I will discuss two of those in this post.

Post-modernity has reintroduced the idea of mystery and the inability of man to know all things. The modern church reacts strongly to this not because they think they know it all (well some might think so) but because it leaves open the door for relative truth. Obviously a large number of post-moderns have walked through that door but slamming the door shut is not the answer. It is a tension the church must learn to live with. I believe that in their desire to insist on absolute truth (which I believe in, by the way) many moderns have refused to utter the three simple words “I don’t know.”

I believe that this refusal to acknowledge mystery has had two harmful affects on western Christianity. First of all, our haste has caused us to interpret scripture in only a western context. As much as we know this we can’t seem to help ourselves. The real proof is obvious as prominent African and South American theologians have begun to develop indigenously. We sometimes struggle with their conclusions and we are only at the beginning of this process as even today most of them are still trained in the west. It will indeed be enlightening to hear what these scholars have to say when they are fully developed locally. I think their interpretation of scripture, having developed with minimal western influence, will be enlightening. (Interestingly, many non-western scholars have not noticed a rise in post-modernity in their countries. I think this is because so much of post-modern philosophy is already in their culture. They haven’t really fully developed modern thought yet so they don’t see this shift. Of course I’m looking at this through western eyes so what do I know?)

The second problem with refusing to acknowledge mystery is that the world quickly finds us out and we lose our credibility. We often behave like know-it-all teenagers and it becomes tiresome to the world. The fact is we don’t know everything about God and that’s okay. This is only the tip of the iceberg though. We don’t know everything about growing a church either, or fully what it means to even be a church, and that should be okay too. I think Paul said something about seeing through a glass darkly.

The other valuable insight that post-modernity may help us recapture is a sense of wholeness. The west is known for tearing things apart. This has served us well as our analytical minds have brought us great advances in science and industry. We are always trying to reduce things to the smallest part possible. Give us an atom and we will try to split it. We place high value on personal freedom, often at the expense of the good of the whole society.

Post-modernism returns us to the pre-modern value of the whole to some degree. People who work in pre-modern cultures are usually aware of this value. Pre-moderns think in terms of the whole much more readily than we do in the west. The good of the whole is often valued higher than the rights of an individual. There seems to be more of a connection between one’s actions and the affect they have on others.

In our society today we see post-moderns rejecting the isolating “castles” (homes) that the moderns have built in the suburbs to return to more community minded living. They seem to value relationships more and have less of the “I am a self-made man” mentality that previous generations have valued. They seem to have more of a sense that their actions have an impact on others in society and the environment in which they live.

I don’t think the post-modern mindset is anything new. It has always been there but has been thoroughly dominated by modernity. One of the biggest mistakes people make is too view post-moderns as those from a particular age. While some age groups may have higher percentages of post-moderns the fact is you will find them in every age grouping just like you do with moderns. What we are seeing now is a combination of an increase in the number of people who hold post-modern views and that they are beginning to express themselves more.

To sum it up, we shouldn’t reject post-modernity out of hand. It does have something to offer western Christianity.